Revenge of the Forgotten
by Fatale Crescendo
Summary: What if Jack had accepted Pitch's offer? What if they realized that they couldn't take on the Guardians alone? What if they had help? This is the story of the ones long forgotten. OCs Dark!Jack SlightlyOOC!Jack. OFFICIALLY NO PAIRINGS. First fanfic, so please be nice. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but please no flames.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hi, Crescendo here! So this is my first fanfic EVER and, lo and behold, I'm writing it about ROTG, a fandom I recently became a part of. Before we get started, a few notes:**_

_**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ**_

_**I messed with the time line a bit. In this fic, Pitch asks Jack to join him after the **__**incident at Tooth's Palace.**_

_**Sandy's not dead yet, I have a plan for him later.**_

_**This is a Dark!Jack fic, and he will be a bit OOC**_

_**With all that being said, please enjoy the first chapter of "Revenge of the Forgotten"!**_

* * *

It was a dark, snow filed night in the town of Burgess, Pennsylvania. If one listened closely, one could hear the creatures of the night that so rarely revealed themselves time of year.

At the outskirts of the sleeping town, on a frozen lake, stood one winter spirit named Jack Frost, and he was currently in the middle of the biggest decisions of his life. He sighed while sitting cross-legged on the frozen surface. His thoughts then drifted to what Pitch had told him after the events at Tooth's Palace.

_*Flashback*_

_ "What goes together better than cold and dark?" Pitch exclaimed, gesturing to the gigantic ice statue in front of them. It was made with Jack's ice was mixed with Pitch's nightmare sand, making it quite frightening yet eerily beautiful._

_ "We could make them believe! We'll give them a world where everything, everything is-"_

_ "Pitch Black?" Jack asked, turning to face the Nightmare King._

_ Pitch looked at Jack with piercing gold eyes and smirked. "…and Jack Frost, too."_

_*Flashback End*_

Jack was nearly surprised at himself for not rejecting the offer outright. An alliance with Pitch Black, the Boogeyman? The embodiment of fear itself?

But the offer to be believed in, to be seen, to be heard? It was almost too good to be true, and Jack found himself wanting it every moment he thought of it.

It wasn't like he would be betraying the Guardians in any way. It was just as Pitch said at the Palace; he was a neutral party, a more active observer. He never wanted to be a Guardian in the first place. He wasn't cut out to be one anyways, even the Kangaroo had attested to that.

Jack blinked when he realized that he had no reason to join the Guardian at all. They had never been there for him; the first few years of Jack's life as a spirit, he had gone to them for help in the midst of his confusion, but they turned him away. North's yetis tossed him out before he even got close to the workshop, Tooth's fairies kept pecking at him, Bunnymund wanted nothing to do with him after the blizzard of '68, and Sandy simply didn't have time for him. They all had things to do spreading wonder and hope to the children of the world who believed in them.

While Jack remained alone and invisible. Just like…

"Like Pitch," Jack realized. They were more alike than he thought.

Jack stood up, a small grin on his face and his bright blue eyes shining with excitement.

"Wind!" Jack called, and the North Wind whirled around and whipped his already wind-blown white hair. "Take me to Pitch's place."

It was time to make a deal with the Boogeyman.

* * *

When Jack land near Pitch's lair, he saw a rickety, broken bed frame. Under it, he could see a large tunnel.

'Under the Bed,' Jack mused. 'Huh. Nice pun.'

Jack flew down the tunnel, navigated through the lesser tunnels, and finally made his way to the room with the cages.

When the little tooth fairies saw Jack, they started chirping excitedly, expecting Jack to free them. Said winter spirit looked up at them with a blank expression before he caught shadows moving in his peripheral vision to his left.

He sighed. "I know you're there, Pitch."

Sinister laughter echoed all around, until the King of Nightmares himself stepped out of the shadows, his golden eyes flashing but his expression otherwise unreadable.

"Ah, Jack Frost, welcome. I assume you're here about my offer?" He asked in his smooth English accent.

"I've given it some thought."

"And?" Pitch pressed.

"I think you already know," Jack replied, leaning on his staff and crossing his arms.

"I still want to hear it."

Jack stared at Pitch for a minute and then closed his eyes. "I've decided that you're right. The Guardians have been basking in the glory of belief for centuries while we have been invisible and neglected." Jack opened his eyes and smirked, crystal blue orbs gleaming with mischief. "I think it's time someone knocked them off their pedestals."

Pitch smirked as well, showing off his razor teeth. "Excellent. You shall not regret this. Come, I will show you your room."

He turned and left through one of the many tunnels leading out of the large room, Jack following close behind.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, there was a single door with a snowflake design. Jack raised and snow white eyebrow at Pitch, who shrugged.

"Indecisiveness and doubt are other forms of fear. When I felt it coming for you, I knew you had made your choice."

Jack hummed, then turned the doorknob and entered the room. He gasped slightly and his eyes widened when he took the room in.

Then walls were black, of course, but the bed was completely covered in snow. There were two piles of snow that Jack guessed were supposed to serve as beanbag seats.

"Wow…I mean, _wow_, Pitch. How in MiM's name did you manage to get all this snow in here in such a short time?" he asked, shocked.

Pitch chuckled. "Well, the Nightmares made this easier on me. It's not easy hauling all this snow down here, you know."

"Why are you saying it like you did most of the work?"

"Quiet you. Now get some rest, we will discuss our course of action tomorrow."

"Alright," Jack said, and then grinned cheekily. "Night, Boogeyman~!"

Pitch's eyebrow twitched. "Go to bed, Frost," he said irritably, then left the room and closed the door with a slam.

Jack, unperturbed, laughed. Teasing Pitch just might become one of his favorite pastimes; his reactions were even funnier than Bunnymund's.

Jack then yawned and suddenly realized how tired he really was. He rested his staff against the wall, then plopped himself on his bed of snow. The temperature was at least -120 degrees, so he didn't have to worry about finding giant puddles of water when he woke up. He snuggled up to a small pile, then closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

The next day, Jack woke up to a rough knocking at his door Rubbing his eyes, mumbling grumpily and running his hand through his snow white hair, he opened the door to find a Nightmare standing there.

"Whoa!" Jack cried, instantly reaching for his staff before calming down after he remembered where he was and why. Still, he was a little wary of the dark horse; it was more than a little intimidating with its glowing yellow eyes.

"I'm guessing that Pitch wants to see me?" he asked.

The Nightmare whinnied once in affirmative before promptly vanishing.

Jack sighed, grabbed his staff and flew down to the cage room (does this place even have a name? whatever it's the cage room now). When he reached there, the little fairies went wild again, this time seemingly pleading with Jack to release them. Jack looked at them impassively for a moment before smirking at them. He turned away from them and saw Pitch standing in front of a giant globe exactly like North's, but a darker version. His back was to Jack when said winter spirit floated down beside him.

"I'm guessing that all those lights are the children that still believe in the Guardians," Jack stated.

Pitch turned his head to him, smiling slightly. "Keen observation, Jack. Indeed, that's exactly what this is." He smiled evilly then. "Though, that will all soon change. And I just came up with an idea that will make this a whole lot easier on both of us."

"Oh?" Jack questioned, curious. He adjusted himself in a cross-legged position, still floating. "Care to share, oh wise Nightmare King?"

Pitch decided to ignore the snarky comment and continued. "We both know that separately, we are powerful, and together, we will be extraordinary. However, this _is_ the Big Four we're talking about. Even with both our powers, it would be extremely difficult, and we could very well lose."

Jack immediately saw where Pitch was going with this. "You're saying we need help." It wasn't a question, so Pitch didn't bother answering.

_'If the self-proclaimed Nightmare King admits that we need help, then we obviously must need it,'_ Jack thought.

But who to choose? Most of the other spirits were loyal to the Guardians, and the ones that didn't hated Pitch for his nightmares and Jack for his pranks.

_'Hmm. Wait, what about…!'_

Jack suddenly got a very devious smile on his face, which did not go unnoticed by Pitch, who smiled wickedly in return.

"Oh my, does little Jack Frost have an idea?" he quipped.

Like Pitch, Jack ignored the remark and said, "As a matter of fact, I do. See, during my first few years as a spirit, I found out that at the same time, three others were reborn as well. And just like you and me, no one believes in them. I think they'll be perfect."

Pitch considered it for a moment. "Interesting. Pray tell, what spirits are they?"

Jack smiled, strangely pleased that Pitch liked his idea. He floated upside-down, still cross-legged, and answered, "Valentine's, Halloween, and New Year's Eve."

"Aren't those all well-known holidays?"

"The holidays, yes. The spirits, not so much. No one even thinks about the concept of Cupid, no one believed in Halloween to begin with, and New Year's? Please," Jack scoffed, but then his eyes softened. "They're all good guys though, the best, and trustworthy, too. Haven't seen them in years, but I'm positive they haven't changed a bit."

"You seem very fond of them," Pitch observed.

"Yeah, well. They were my only friends, and really, all we had was each other. We kinda went our own ways about two hundred years ago, but I'm 99.9% sure they're still neutral like I was," Jack said.

"Very well then, let's go and find these friends of yours. You know where they are, correct?" Jack nodded, the smirked mischievously and disappeared into the shadows.

It was time to ay Valentine's a visit.

_**Please R&R!**_


	2. Chapter 2: Little Miss Valentine

_**A/N:Hey guys it's Crescendo! I wanted to say how happy I am about the positive feedback. 11 follows, 5 faves, and 3 reviews! I know it isn't much, but it means the world to me so thank you!**_

_**Ok now that the sappy crap if out of the way, On with the Story!**_

_**Disclaimer(forgot to do this the first chpt): I don't own Rise of the Guardians!**_

* * *

It took about an hour to get to the beautiful city of Paris. It should have taken less time, but Pitch had to catch Jack who had, for some reason, turned it into a game of tag. When they finally reached the City of Love, Jack was laughing jovially and Pitch was sending him death glares.

"Aw, c'mon, Boogeyman!" Jack exclaimed, still laughing. "That was fun!"

Pitch growled. "For you maybe. Now be on your guard, Frost. It's hot and sunny here, so _both_ of us are weak. If the Guardians show up here, we're as good as gone."

"Yeah, yeah," Jack said lazily, not really paying attention, which irritated the living hell out of Pitch. Suddenly, the winter spirit's eyes zeroed in on something and he grinned widely. "There! There she is at the park over there!"

Pitch looked in the direction Jack was pointing. It was towards a somewhat crowded park. It was noisy and busy, with mothers trying to contain their excited children, and couples, *ehem* _enjoying themselves_ on the lush green grass or under the shade of the tall trees.

On one bench, however, sat a rather short, odd looking girl. She was pale, with rosy red cheeks and cherry red lips. Her hair was pink, quite an unusual color (well compared to the people around her; compared to Jack she looked completely normal), and it was tied up in two pigtails at the sides of her head, and the curled a bit at the ends. She was wearing a bright red V-neck short-sleeved shirt and a white pleated skirt with black leggings, and black ballet shoes with little bows on them. She was also wearing small heart-shaped dangle earrings and a small heart shaped locket. She had big, bright green eyes and seemed to radiate innocence.

Jack knew better, thought. Under that perfect, kind, "cute little girl" exterior was the heart of a little devil. Even now, she was using her powers over love for her own amusement. She was sitting on the bench eating a croissant and pointing a slender finger at local couples, either making them break up in some humorous manner, or making on fall in love with someone else, laughing at the looks of heartbreak by the other party.

Jack shook his head and smiled fondly. Pitch raised an amused eyebrow at the girl, but said nothing.

The girl was so occupied with her "game" that she didn't notice Jack coming up behind her and said, "You never change, do you, Cherie?"

The girl called Cherie span around in shock and then squealed in delight when she saw who it was.

"Eeek! Jack!" she yelled in a light French accent, so "Jack" sounded a little like "Jacques." She got up and tackled him in a hug. "_Mon ami! Ça va?_"(My friend! How are you?)

Jack laughed and returned the hug. "_Ma amie, ça va bien._ (my friend, I am well)What are you doing here, ruining people's relationships for?

Cherie stepped out the hug and grinned. "Well, I got bored. _Très, très_ bored. So I wanted to see if I could start a fight~!"

"Did you?"

"No~. The only thing was that a guy got slapped," she sounded disappointed, and she was pouting.

Jack sighed. "How a little like you because the spirit of Valentine's Day, I'll never know."

"_Tais-toi._" (Shut up.)

Pitch took this as an opportunity to interrupt, clearing his throat. "As touching as this reunion is, we do have places to be, and I would very much like to out of the sun."

Jack looked back at him. "Oh, don't be such a Drama Queen, Pitch."

Cherie looked around Jack, and her eyes widened when she saw Pitch. "Jack…why are you with the _Roi de Cauchemars?_" (King of Nightmares)

Jack's eyes widened when he realized his blunder. "Um…I can explain-"

However, just as he was about to, Pitch stiffened. "One of the Guardians is coming."(A/N: Don't question why Pitch is able to do this, it's my fanfic, he can do that) He looked at Jack. "They might be looking for you. It wouldn't do to be seen with each other just yet, so I'll go ahead." And with that, he disappeared in a swirl of black sand.

As soon as Pitch left, a tunnel opened in front of Jack and Cherie, and out popped a slightly irritated Bunnymund.

"Well, well, mate, I've finally found you. Care to tell me where you've been all this time?" he asked in his coarse Australian accent. (A/N: I'm sorry, I can't write the accent very well! Just use your imaginations)

Jack smirked and leaned on his staff. "Well, if it isn't the Easter Kangaroo. If you must know, I decided to visit an old friend," he said. Cherie shrank behind him, trying to make herself hidden; she didn't like the Guardians very much.

Bunnymund noticed the movement, despite her effort. "Oi, what's this, frostbite? Someone who can see you? Let alone wants to be friends with you? I'm shocked," he said, smirking.

Jack glared at him, but Cherie-having known him long enough-could see the pain in his eyes.

_'This is exactly why I joined Pitch,'_ Jack thought. _'None of them know how this possibly feels like.'_ He gripped his staff so tightly his hands were shaking, but Bunnymund didn't notice and continued to berate Jack.

"After all, no one believes in you and no one probably ever-"

_"Pardonnez-moi,(excuse me) monsieur _Bunnymund," Cherie interrupted him, eyes flashing dangerously. "I would appreciate it if you stopped insulting my friend.

Bunnymund took a step back, shocked by the sudden hostility from the small girl.

"A-anyway," he said, turning back to Jack. "North wants you back at the workshop. Tooth's been a mess since Pitch took all the fairies, now North wants us all to collect the teeth for her."

Jack faked like he was giving it thought, putting his hand under chin. "Hmm, how about…" he smirked, "…no."

Bunnymund's eyes widened in shock. "W-what?"

"I'm not going to North's workshop," Jack said slowly, as if talking to a small child.

"W-wha-, b-but, you have to!" Bunnymund stuttered angrily.

"Why do I have to?" Jack asked, crossing his arms, and Cherie looked at him in amusement.

"Because you're a Guardian!"

Jack laughed. "Really? Who says?"

"The Man in the Moon!"

Jack scoffed. "Oh, you mean the guy who's ignored me my entire life? Yeah, I don't think so; he can say all he wants, but my answer won't change: I won't become a Guardian. Now if you'll excuse me," Jack said, placing his hand on Cherie's shoulder. "We have places to be."

Cherie smiled at Bunnymund and waved. _"Au revoir, monsieur_ Bunnymund!" And then both of them vanished into the wind.

The Guardian of Hope stood in shock for a moment, before realizing something important. "Wait, how in the bloody hell did that girl know my name?"

* * *

When the two spirits reappeared, they were at Jack's frozen lake in Burgess. When they landed, Cherie immediately rounded on Jack.

"Jack Frost, you have a _lot_ of explaining to do. _Now_," she said, glaring at him.

Jack gulped audibly; an angry spirit was never fun to deal with (besides Bunnymund) especially one that could get as volatile as Cherie could, so it was best that he explain quickly.

"Well, you see," Jack started. "As you've already seen, Pitch Black has returned, with the intent of destroying the Guardians for casting him in the shadows. And, well, I've kinda joined him," he finished, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Cherie frowned. "Why did you join him Jack?" There was no disgust or admonishment in her voice, just genuine curiosity.

Jack stiffened anyway. "Because, Cherie, this is my chance, for people to finally see me. I'm tired of only being spoken about in jokes and cheesy song lyrics. People will finally know who I am." Jack sighed and looked up at the twilight sky. "I really don't care if they fear me or not. Just to have people know that I exist is enough."

Cherie's eyes softened and she smiled a bit. _'Jack's been alone and unseen for so long, his actions are completely justifiable. But still…'_

"What does this have to do with _moi_?" she asked, frowning in confusion.

Jack looked at her and smirked. "I was hoping you'd ask. See, me and Pitch are pretty powerful, but against all of the Guardians, we probably wouldn't stand a chance. So, I decided to get the old gang back together."

The Valentine's spirit's eyes widened. "Are you serious, Jack?"

Jack nodded, still grinning. "Very. Besides, aren't you tired of being invisible too? When people fall in love, the give the credit to their own hearts, instead of 'Cherie St. Valentine.' Cherie, if you help us, they will finally know your name." Jack grabbed her shoulders. "Please, Cherie, help us."

Cherie looked at Jack impassively for several moments, and Jack was about to give up, when she suddenly broke out in a huge smile and hugged him.

"You're a fool, jack Frost. _Un grand, grand imbécile._ I would have helped you even if there was nothing in it for me." She stepped back and looked at the winter spirit's shocked face. "You're one of my best and only friends Jack. I know that of all of us, you deserve this the most."

Jack's face lit up, and he grabbed Cherie in a freezing, bone crushing hug.

"J-jack! Can't…breathe!" she gasped.

Jack laughed and let her go. "Sorry, sorry! I'm just so glad! C'mon, we gotta tell Pitch." And then they flew down to Pitch's lair.

* * *

Jack flew them down the tunnel into the cage room, and saw Pitch standing in front of his globe with his back to them again

Cherie wasn't paying attention though; she was muttering in French and staring in awe at the fact that Pitch kidnapped all of Tooth's fairies.

Jack left her to her mumbling and floated up beside Pitch and peered at his face. He seemed troubled and angry.

"Pitch?" Jack called, and seemed to startle Pitch out of his musing.

"Ah, Jack. Welcome back. And you've brought Miss Cherie, as well. Good, good," Pitch said, still distracted.

"Hi, I'm back. What's wrong?" Jack asked impatiently.

Pitch frowned and looked at the globe again. "You remember the events at Tooth Palace. There should have been no one collecting the teeth, however, none of the lights have gone out."

_"What?"_ Jack said, eyes widening incredulously. "How is that possible? What-"

Suddenly Jack remembered something. He groaned and smacked his head. "The Guardians."

Cherie picked this as the time to step in. "What about the Guardians, Jack?"

Jack ran his fingers through his white locks. "Remember what Bunny told us back in France?"

Cherie thought for a moment and then her eyes widened. "Ah, _zut, zut, zut_," (darn, darn, darn) she said, also face-palming.

"Jack," Pitch said in an even tone, catching Jack's attention. "What are you talking about?"

"Well," Jack began. "The Guardian that you sensed coming was Bunnymund. He didn't know that I joined you, and he said that they needed my help. He said that they were going to collect the teeth themselves."

_"What?!"_ Pitch yelled, and a whip of black sand shot out towards Jack; it would have taken his head off had he not ducked in time.

"Hey! I'm on your side here!" Jack yelled indignantly. Cherie was now unsuccessfully trying to calm down the fairies, who went wild after hearing the Guardians' plan.

Pitch ignored Jack's statement. "Jack…if you knew what they were planning, why didn't you stop them?!"

The fairies started chirping louder.

Jack put his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Hey, now, hear me out, Pitch. I-" he started, then suddenly spun fast and shot a bolt of ice at the cages, not harming any of the fairies, but frightening them to silence.

Jack glared at them. "Shut up, or next time I won't miss."

He turned back to Pitch, who was too angry to react to Jack's actions. "Anyway, I didn't stop them because _you_ were the one who said not to reveal myself so soon," he said, floating up to sit on the globe. "Besides, isn't it better to let the Guardians have this one win? Get their guards down?" Jack smirked cunningly. "And once their guards are down, like they will be tonight, that's when we strike."

Both Cherie and Pitch grinned, and Cherie said, "Wow Jack. _Tu es tres sournois._"(You are very devious)

Pitch chuckled. "Indeed. Who knew you had it in you to be so conniving?"

"Hey, when you're me, you have to be," Jack said shrugging, then yawned and stretched. "Man, I'm beat. Pitch, where's Cherie's room?"

"Down the tunnel next to yours."

Jack hopped off the globe and turned to the female spirit. "C'mon, I'll take you to your room."

"Okay," Cherie said, then turned to Pitch. _"Bonne nuit,_ Pitch!" (Good night)

Pitch smiled at her and said, _"Bonne nuit, mademoiselle."_

* * *

As Jack and Cherie were walking to her room, the spirit of Valentine's spoke in an uncertain voice, "Jack?"

Jack looked down at her (he was at least 5 inches taller than her; she was pretty short) and saw the scared look in her eyes.

"Cherie? What's wrong?"

"Jack, what if…what if the others don't want the same thing we want?"

Jack's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?"

Cherie looked down at the ground and started playing with the hem of her skirt. "The others…what if they don't feel the same way as I do about this? What if they get mad at us for siding with the Nightmare King? What if they fight against us? What if-" She was cut off by Jack's hand over her mouth. She mumbled through Jack's hand what he could only guess was a string of French profanities.

Jack ignored this and said, "Cherie St. Valentine, you have no idea how badly you're over-exaggerating. Do you really think they would abandon us like that? Or do you have so little faith in your friends?"

Cherie's eyes widened and she shook her head against Jack's cold hand.

He smiled. "Then believe me when I say that will definitely be on our side."

Cherie took Jack's hand off her mouth and smiled. _"Désolé.(Sorry)_ I guess I'm just nervous."

"Don't be. Trust me, I have a good feeling about this. Ah, here we are."

They stopped at a door like Jack's, only instead of a snowflake, it was a heart.

Jack turned back to Cherie. "Well, I'm not gonna barge into a lady's room, so I'll leave you here." He smiled and ruffled her hair. "Night, little Miss Valentine."

Cherie growled and fixed her messed up hair. "Goodnight, you idiot." She opened her door and slammed it in his face, and from what Jack saw of it, the room was very pink.

Jack snickered at his friend, then floated down the tunnel to his own room; it was a long day and he needed some sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Jack and Cherie went to the cage room and saw a tall set of stairs and Pitch sitting on a smoll black throne, a smirk on his face and his golden eyes flashing.

Cherie smiled. _"Bonjour, monsieur _Nightmare King."

Before Pitch could respond, Jack snorted. "Nightmare King, indeed." He bowed mockingly. "Good morning, Your Highness."

Pitch scowled at him. "Oh, quiet Frost. Anyway, I want you two to do something for me."

Both spirits cocked their heads to the side a little, Jack floating cross-legged.

Pitch smirked, showing his sharp teeth. "Jack, you said the Guardians went to collect the teeth last night, and they will undoubtedly do so again tonight. I want you two to stop them."

"Oh?" Jack said, looking confused before smirking a little. "Hmm…what are you planning, Pitch?"

Cherie looked at Jack confused and Pitch looked at him innocently-well, as innocent as the king of Fear could look.

"Why, whatever do you mean? I just think that it's time to, how do you say, 'get the ball rolling,' that's all."

Cherie frowned and Jack just smiled. "whatever you say Pitch," he said, not fooled by Pitch's act in the slightest. "Where are they?"

"one of my Nightmares reported to me that their first destination will be in Hong Kong."

Jack nodded. "Right. Well the, we'll be going," he said as he grabbed Cherie's shoulder and disappeared.

Pitch chuckled and stood up. "Well, time to fill my half of the day." And with that, he disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

To say that Bunnymund was pissed was a grand understatement. To be dragged all around the world in the death-machine North called a sleigh was one thing. However, his mind kept drifting back to the meeting with Jack. Sure, he's known all along that the damn frostbite wasn't cut out to be a Guardian, but it didn't make it any less annoying.

North heard Bunnymund's annoyed grumbling and patted him on the back…and nearly knocking the Guardian of Hope out of the still moving sleigh.

"Bunny, my friend! What is eating you?" North asked in his thick Russian accent. (A/N: I suck at this accent too.)

Tooth flew up beside him. "You have been rather moody lately. Well, more moody that usual. What's wrong?" Sandy nodded along with Tooth's words, and made a little picture of Jack with a question mark above his head with his dreamsand; he was wondering if Bunny was thinking about Jack.

Before Bunny could answer, they had made it to Hong Kong. It currently was nighttime there, thankfully, but it seemed to be about 2:00 there, so they had to work quickly. Tooth was currently going crazy over all the teeth she would collect, Baby Tooth was trying to calm her down, and Sandy was falling asleep. North was tending to his _extremely_ feral reindeer, and Bunnymund was tapping his foot impatiently; he wanted to get this done and get back to his warren.

Suddenly, there was a cold gust of wind that the Guardians immediately recognized as the North Wind. They looked to their left and saw Jack Frost and a small girl standing there. They both had unreadable expressions on their faces.

"Jack!" Tooth exclaimed, flying fast and tackling Jack in a hug. She was so excited to see him that she didn't notice that he didn't return the embrace.

When Tooth noticed and pulled back, Jack had a friendly smile on his face.

"Hey, Tooth," he said in a friendly tone, but something about his voice slightly frightened the Guardian of Memories, and she flew back over to her fellow Guardians.

"Jack!" North boomed. "Where have you been? And who is this with you?"

Jack leaned on his staff. "I've been around," he said vaguely. "As for who she is…"

The girl steeped up and curtsied politely. "Nice to meet you. _J'ai m'appelle (my name is)_ Cherie St. Valentine, spirit of Valentine's Day."

"Ah!" Bunnymund exclaimed. "I remember you! You're the girl from France! You're telling me you're a spirit?!"

The girl called Cherie giggled. _"Oui, monsieur _Bunnymund. It's nice to see you again."

Tooth looked back and forth between them. "Wait, Bunny, you know her?"

Bunnymund nodded. "Yeah. I met her in France when I was looking for Frostbite over here. Looks like the two of them have a history."

All of the Guardians looked at Jack in shock; as mean as it might sound, none of them thought he had any friends. Jack just smiled.

"So, Jack, since you are here, does that mean you have changed your mind about collecting the teeth?" North asked hopefully, completely sure that Jack had come around.

However, he was proven wrong when Jack smirked and said, "Nope."

The Guardian of Wonder's eyes widened. Sandy could sense that something was wrong with Jack and tried to get North's attention, but was ignored.

Bunnymund scowled. "Well, frostbite, if you're not here to help, then leave!"

Cherie smiled at Bunnymund. _"Mais non. (But no)_ We can't do that, _monsieur_."

"Why not?!"

Jack's smirk turned evil. "Because," he said, pointing his staff at Bunny. "we're here to stop you."

_**A/N: I made Jack so evil...but I just couldn't help it! So anyway, we finally meet Cherie, and then a cliffhanger for you! hope you enjoyed the Chapter! Please review!**_

_**Cherie: Any flames will be used to fuel my burning hate of people!**_

_**Me:...**_


	3. Chapter 3: Confrontations

**_A/N: Heeeeeyy you little snowflakes, it's Crescendo! Here's a new chapter for you, right in time for Easter!_**

**_Before I start, thanks to all of you who reviewed-You're awesome!_**

**_Special thanks to TheMysticWolf36, who sent me an extra long review full of nice words!_**

**_Now that that's out of the way, on with the story!_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG!_**

* * *

"W-what?" Tooth asked incredulously, unable to comprehend what Jack just said.

Jack and Cherie smiled, and those smiles sent chills down the Guardians' spines. Cherie reached into her pocket and pulled out a miniature bow and a quiver full of arrows. In a split second the items grew to a normal size, and Cherie put the quiver on her back, pulled out an arrow and readied it.

Jack grinned evilly. "It wouldn't really go over well if you collected the teeth. So sorry, but we can't allow you to go any further."

Bunnymund took out his boomerangs, North took out his sword, and Sandy summoned his dreamsand whips.

Tooth, however, was looking at Jack in confusion. "I don't understand. Why are you doing this?"

Jack said nothing, but shot a bolt of ice at her, narrowly missing her. Cherie also fired an arrow at Bunnymund, but he blocked it with one of his boomerangs.

"That was just a warning shot," the two teenaged spirits snickered.

"Jack! What are you doing?!" North shouted in outrage.

"I told you. We can't allow you to collect the teeth. If you try to go any farther, we will stop you," Jack said. Cherie took another bow from her quiver and aimed again.

"That still doesn't explain why you two are doing this!" Tooth yelled.

_"Desolé, madame_ Toothiana," She didn't sound very sorry; in fact she sounded a bit excited.

"This is as far as you go," Jack said.

Suddenly, Sandy lashed his sand whips at Jack, who dodged to the side. The whips lashed out again and again, and Jack kept dodging, quite gracefully actually; it looked like he was dancing around the dream sand.

While that was going on, Cherie readied her bow and fired it at Bunnymund again. Just like the first time, he blocked the projectile and threw one of his boomerangs at her, which she dodged effortlessly. What she didn't notice, however, was Bunnymund racing towards her, readying his other boomerang to knock her out with a blow to the head.

"Sorry, sheila," Bunnymund said as he raised his hand (A/N: or is it a paw? Whatever). "But I have to take you out!" he yelled as he slammed the boomerang on her head, rendering her unconscious.

…or at least, it would have, if Cherie had not blocked the blow with her bow, effectively surprising Bunny.

_"Oh lá,_ _lá, monsieur,_ surely you didn't believe I was a weak little spirit?" she asked sweetly.

Now it was her turn to be surprised when Bunnymund smirked. "Never doubted your strength, girlie, but I had to distract you somehow."

Cherie's eyes widened and she spun around just in time to see North coming at her with his swords. She ducked under them and swept a leg under Bunnymund, knocking him over, and flipped away from North before he could slash at her again.

"Well, this is going to be _trés_ _intéressant," _(very interesting) she said, grinning evilly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jack was having the time of his life. He was dodging Sandy's attacks effortlessly, using his power over the wind to his advantage. Oftentimes, he would shoot bolts of ice at Sandy, but he would block it with his dreamsand.

Jack wasn't frustrated though. In fact, he was having more fun with each lash he dodged.

Eventually, he started snickering, than giggling, and finally turned to full-blown laughter.

"C'mon, Sandman!" Jack taunted him. "What are you doing? Hurry up and hit me…if you can!"

Just as he said that, a multicolored blur zoomed at him, which he narrowly dodged.

"Whoa, Tooth! Careful there, someone could have gotten hurt!" Jack laughed.

Tooth looked at him sadly. "Jack…what's happened to you?"

Jack's mirth didn't fade and he looked at her and answered, "I don't think I owe you and explanation, Toothiana."

Sandy took advantage of Jack's momentary lapse of focus and lashed one of his whips at the winter spirit. It circled around his waist tightly and the Guardian of Dreams lifted Jack into the air and swung him down to the ground with such force that it made him yell in pain.

* * *

Cherie heard Jack's yell and her focus immediately shifted to her best friend.

"Jack!" she yelled getting ready to run towards him.

Big mistake. Bunnymund saw the chance and immediately took it, running to the Valentine's spirit and ramming his foot (A/N: of hind paw? Arrg, whatever with his anatomy) into her stomach, causing her to cry out in pain. The force of the blow knocked her over to Jack had landed.

When Jack regained his bearings, he caught sight of Cherie who was clutching her stomach in pain.

"Cherie!" Jack called, and was about to fly over to her, but a rope made out of dreamsand restricted his movements. Jack growled, his joyful mood finally gone, and glare at Sandy, who was currently tying Cherie up as well.

However, when Bunnymund moved her over to Jack so she was leaning on him, he calmed down some.

'Hey,' he whispered to her. 'You okay?'

She squirmed in discomfort. 'I've been better. _Et toi?' _(and you?)

'Same.'

Cherie sighed. 'So, how do we get ourselves out of this one?'

Jack looked over to where his staff landed when he was thrown. It was close by, but he could reach for it because of his binds. 'Well, my staff's over there, so I'm out. What do yo-'

Jack was cut off when both teenaged spirits got a sense of foreboding. They both had felt this before, and they knew exactly what it was. They smirked, and Jack's playful attitude returned with a vengeance.

'Follow my lead,' he whispered to Cherie, and then looked up at the Guardians towering over them.

"Well, well. Congratulations on catching us, Guardians. What do you plan to do now?" Jack asked condescendingly.

"Cut the tough act, frostbite," Bunnymund growled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Now you tell us why you two were doing this, and what the hell you expect to get out of this."

Jack sniggered. "You think this was all our idea? No, we," he jerked his head towards Cherie, "are just 'knights', for now. The real 'King' on this chessboard has yet to show up."

North pointed one of swords at Jack, just centimeters away from the winter spirit's nose, but he looked at it calmly.

"What are you talking about, Jack? Who is this 'King'?" North asked.

Cherie giggled. _"Oh lá, lá, _so dangerous! You could hurt someone with that!"

North ignored her in favor of interrogating Jack, who was grinning despite having one of North's deathly blades in his face.

"You know him," Jack said vaguely. "In fact, I'm pretty sure _everyone's_ heard of him."

North glared fiercely at him. "Give it up, Jack, it is over. Just tell us."

The Guardians were shocked when both teenaged spirits started snickering.

"It's over, you say?" Cherie asked.

" 'Fraid not, North. In fact, it's only just begun," Jack said ominously.

Just then, sinister laughter filled the area and the Guardians immediately recognized it and readied themselves for another battle, while Jack and Cherie remained silent.

"Pitch!" Bunnymund yelled to no one. "Show yourself you bloody coward!"

Pitch laughed balefully again, and appeared in a swirl of nightmare sand, right between the Guardians and the teen spirits.

"Ah, here we are, all together again," Pitch said sarcastically. "What a heartwarming reunion."

"Cut the crap!" Bunnymund said, and threw one of his boomerangs at him, which he dodged without difficulty. Bunny caught it as it circled back to him.

The Nightmare King chuckled. "As much as I would love to, I didn't come here to fight, not really. I just came to pick up two unruly children."

"Hey!" Jack yelled indignantly. "Unruly, maybe; children, no."

"You're children to me. Even more so when I see you tied up like this."

. _"Oh lá, lá, _so cruel, _monsieur,_" Cherie said.

Pitch said nothing and walked over to them. He bent down and touched the dream sand binding Jack. It soon turned into nightmare sand and swirled in his hand and disappeared. He moved over to Cherie and did the same with her.

"Better?" Pitch asked, and to the Guardians' surprise, he wasn't sarcastic at all.

Jack got up and picked up his staff and stretched his sore limbs. "Yeah, thanks," he said sincerely.

Cherie got up and did the same. _"Oui, merci."_

Bunnymund had had enough of this. He didn't know what the three were talking about, or why they sounded so close, but he didn't care. He charged at Pitch, prepared to take out any Nightmare that would stand in his way.

However, what got in his way wasn't one of Pitch's Nightmares at all. It was Jack and Cherie, with their respective weapons pointed at his throat. They both glared at him while Pitch looked at Bunny impassively.

Bunny's eyes widened and he jumped back. (A/N: or hopped. He IS a bunny.)

North looked confused, and then realization hit him. "Jack…you are not saying…that the 'King' you spoke of is…"

Jack looked at North and smirked. "'Bout time you figured it out. I gave you enough hints, after all. You must be denser than I thought."

The three rouge spirits could practically see the steam coming out of the Guardians' ears. They were seething with rage, especially Sandy.

Jack noticed Sandy's anger and nudged Pitch with his elbow. The winter spirit looked towards Sandy pointedly and Pitch nodded in understanding; nothing good could come from an enraged Sandman, especially not now. Jack looked at Cherie and they both nodded at each other and Jack grabbed her shoulder.

"Well, this was fun," Pitch said. "But we must get going. Places to go, people to see, dreams to destroy."

"You're not going anywhere!" Bunny yelled, and threw one of his boomerangs at Pitch, who blocked it with a wall of black sand.

The same black sand started to swirl around the rogue spirits, and Pitch smirked. "Till next time, Guardians."

"And have a good morning," Jack and Cherie snickered, and then they disappeared.

"Good morning…?" North asked, confused.

Tooth looked at the sky and gasped. "North! The sun!"

The sun was coming up. And the children were now waking up

With nothing under their pillows, except for their measly baby teeth.

* * *

Back at Pitch's lair, Cherie was busy fussing over Jack, who was still in a bit of pain from when Sandy threw him.

"Jack, are you sure you're alright?" she asked for what seemed like the 20th time. "You did land pretty hard," she asked, worried

Jack laughed. "I'm fine. More importantly…" he looked at Pitch, who was once again in front of his globe. Jack went to stand beside him with Cherie trailing behind.

"Pitch," Jack said, looking at the globe as well. "You didn't really expect us to stop them, did you." It wasn't a question, and it wasn't an accusation; it was a statement of fact.

Pitch chuckled. "No, I didn't. Your job was merely to distract them while I took care of some business myself."

"Which would be…?"

Pitch turned to Jack. "Finding the location of one of your other friends, Lilith Le Fay, the spirit of Halloween."

At that Cherie shot up excitedly. "You found Lily? Really?! Where is she?!"

Jack laughed. "Calm down; let the guy get a sentence out."

Pitch chuckled again. "She is currently residing in an abandoned cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. It's quite fitting, almost painfully so."

"Says the guy who calls his hideout 'Under the Bed'," Jack pointed out.

Pitch pointedly ignored that in favor of watching the lights in Hong Kong go out. Jack turned back to the globe as well and smirked. "Even if we were just diversions, we still got something done," he said.

"Indeed. Now go you two. It's imperative that you get to her as soon as possible. The Guardians might try to get to her first; they need a replacement for Jack, after all," Pitch said.

Cherie scowled. "Jack, we can't let that happen. Lilith's my best friend."

"Hey!"

She smiled and rolled her big green eyes. "My best _female_ friend," she clarified.

"Oh, just get going, you two," Pitch said, not spiteful at all; he'd grown rather fond of the two spirits.

It was likewise with them as well. They both laughed and said, "Later!" and disappeared.

When they were gone, Pitch turned back to the globe and saw that it was not just Hong Kong; all of the lights in China had gone out.

Pitch smirked. "'Knights', indeed, but in due time they too will rise to become 'Kings' of a different stature," he said, and laughed evilly.

* * *

When the two teenage spirits landed in the town of Salem, it was nighttime, it was cold, and there were absolutely no people on the streets.

All this equaled to a very happy Jack Frost.

He laughed as he froze a few water pipes. "Ah, now this is more like it! Sorry Cherie, but France is _way_ too warm right now for my liking."

Cherie looked at him oddly. "Jack, it was only 20°C (A/N: 68°F)."

"Your point?"

She rolled her eyes. She said nothing and looked around. "We need to find that cemetery."

Jack floated up and crouched on a nearby water fountain. "Well, this _is_ Salem. There's probably at least a dozen of them here; half of them maybe tourist sites."

Cherie turned to him, suddenly heated. "Then we just have to check them all! The longer we sit here talking, the more time the Guardians have of finding Lilith before us!"

Jack held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay!" he said, then looked at her softly when her back was turned._ 'She really cares about her, doesn't she?'_

He jumped off the water fountain, grabbed Cherie and flew them over every abandoned cemetery; true to Jack's prediction, there were 12 of them and 6 of them were tourist spots.

When they landed in the last cemetery they found, called Gypsy Haven, Cherie looked about ready to explode.

"We've been looking around this damn town forever! Next time, we're going to force Pitch to give us more information," she said crossly.

"Agreed," Jack said with his arm crossed; he was annoyed too.

They looked around the cemetery in awe; Gypsy Haven was more than likely an actual safe have for gypsies of old. There were abandoned caravans all over the place, and the headstones were decorated with worn, colorful beads and torn shawls.

Jack whistled. "Wow~. What are the odds that she's here?"

Cherie looked around a bit more and nodded. "Pretty good, I'd say. Or rather, she'd better be."

They both kept walking for a bit, when a sudden bright light caught their attention. Jack flew them over to where it was coming from and his eyes widened. The light turned out to be a magic portal, and out stepped none other than North.

'_Shit!_ Jack exclaimed mentally, and he pulled Cherie down and they hid themselves behind a bush.

'What's _he_ doing here?!' Cherie whispered urgently. 'I mean, I knew that one of them was looking for her too, but how did he know _where_ to look?'

Jack said nothing and just watched North's movements intently.

Suddenly, they heard North's voice ask a question quietly. They couldn't make out what he said, but he seemed to be talking to someone. They both were startled although, when they heard a smooth, light female voice respond.

'Jack!' Cherie whisper-shouted. 'That's-'

'Shh!' he shushed her, covering her mouth. With his other hand, he put down his staff quietly and brushed through the shrubbery as silently as he could.

When he finally got through, he caught a glimpse of North, but couldn't see the female he was talking to.

"You must come with us!" North was arguing. "We need your help."

"And for what possible reason would I want to help you?" the female voice asked.

North straightened. "Pitch Black has returned, and he is aiming to cover the world in fear once more, but now he has the aid of Jack Frost and Cherie St. Valentine." Jack and Cherie resisted the urge to sigh; the way North said it made them sound bratty and childish.

The said nothing for at first, then said, "Jack Frost and Cherie St. Valentine, you say?"

"Yes. Man in Moon has chosen Jack as Guardian, but he refuses to accept his destiny." North said matter-of-factly.

Now Cherie had to cover Jack's mouth to keep him from yelling a string of profanities at North.

'_Destiny, my ass!' _he wanted to scream. _'The Man in the Moon might have given me life, but he sure as hell doesn't run it!'_

While Jack was struggling, the other two were continuing their conversation. By the time he actually calmed down, the conversation was nearing its end.

"…fear, North. I'm sorry," the female said, sounding indifferent.

North saddened, and seemed to deflate; he clearly didn't expect 'no' for an answer. Without a word he turned and threw a snow globe, and a magic portal appeared. Just as he was about to step in, he turned back around. "I beg you to reconsider, Lilith Le Fay."

The female now known as Lilith simply responded, "I won't."

North sighed, and disappeared into the portal.

As soon as he was gone, the two teenage spirits, who were still hiding, heard Lilith say, "I know you're there."

Jack looked at Cherie and Cherie looked back at Jack. The winter spirit shrugged and Cherie rolled her eyes. They both stood up and looked at Lilith.

She was as tall as Jack and looked about 19, had pale white skin, long jet-black hair tied up in a high ponytail, with bangs covering one of her blazing red eyes. She was wearing a black sweater with a white skull on it that showed her right shoulder a bit and the sleeves covered her hands completely and flared out at the ends. She was also wearing black jeans with a chain accessory connected to her belt loops, and black stiletto boots. She also had a black bandanna with a single jack-o-lantern design tied around her left leg.

Lilith looked at Jack. "Frost," she greeted him coolly.

Jack nodded. "Le Fay," he regarded just as calmly, then smiled goofily.

Lilith looked at him a bit longer, and then smiled slightly. "Idiot," she said fondly.

Cherie couldn't stand it anymore. The sight of her greatest best friend was too much for her hyperactive emotions to handle. She ran at Lilith and tackled her in a hug.

"Lilyyyyy!" she cried, gripping her tightly.

Lilith was startled out of her calm demeanor and stuttered out, "C-Cherie?"

"I haven't seen you in two centuries, Lily! _Two centuries!_ Do you know how much I've missed you?!" she yelled, suddenly angry.

'_I don't know if I should be happy or upset that she didn't miss me nearly as much.' _Jack thought in amusement.

Lilith sighed, her calm displacement returning. "Cherie, calm down."

"_Tais-toi! _(A/N: if you don't remember, it means shut up.) Don't tell me to calm down!"

Lilith sighed again and patted Cherie's head. "Yeah, I get it. Just stop yelling at me."

Cherie 'hmphed' and released her. Lilith stepped back a bit to get her bearings back and straightened her sweater a little.

"So," Jack started, balancing himself on top of his staff. "What's new?"

The Halloween spirit looked at him somewhat incredulously. "Do you really think that this is a time for small talk?" she asked, amused.

"Heh. No, not really," Jack admitted. "I'm guessing you know that this isn't just a simple visit."

"Naturally."

"And?" Cherie pressed.

Lilith laughed a bit. "Why do you think I turned North down? Besides the obvious reason. You guys may be total idiots, but you're still my best friends. Besides," she paused, walking up to Jack and ruffled his hair with one of her hidden hands. "I know Frosty over here has had the worst time of all of us."

Jack scoffed, and swatted her hand away playfully. "Yeah, whatever _Lily,_" he said, then smiled genuinely. "But thanks."

Lilith nodded. "No prob. I'll leave with you guys in a minute; there's something I need to do first."

She walked over to one of the headstones and raised her concealed hands over it. She closed her eyes and concentrated. A minute later, a shimmer appeared and formed into a shape of a woman. She had long curly black hair tied back with a pick scarf. She wore a short sleeve white shirt that revealed her shoulders with a lavender shawl with stars on her arms. She was also wearing a long light purple skirt with another shawl with little gold balls hanging from it, and Jack noted she was barefoot. She had large hop earrings and it was clear that she was a gypsy.

The woman smiled at Lilith. "Oh, hello, Lilith. It's been a long time hasn't it?"

Lilith nodded. "That it has, Esméralda." (A/N: I don't own The Hunchback of Norte Dame!)

Esméralda looked at the other two spirits, who weren't startled in the least at the sight of a ghost; they've seen Lilith summon one before. "These are the friends you've told me about?"

Lily nodded.

"I assume you're leaving then." Again, the Halloween spirit nodded.

Esméralda smiled. "Well, if you ever need me, don't hesitate to summon me, alright? I do worry, you know. Promise me?"

Lilith's one visible eye softened. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. But I promise."

Esméralda nodded, then turned to Jack and Cherie. "Look after her, please. I've known her for many years; she's been rather lonely with just us ghosts keeping her company."

Cherie stepped up. "We don't abandon our friend! We'll look after her, _je promets!" _(I promise!) she declared.

Jack stepped up as well and smiled. "You're mistaken, Miss Esméralda. It's Lilith that takes care of us."

The gypsy smiled. "If that's so, I have no worries. Until next time," she said, and then she vanished.

Lilith turned to her best friends and smiled. "Well, we best get going then. Better 'present myself' to the Nightmare King," she said jokingly.

Jack scoffed and Cherie giggled. Jack moved over to Cherie, putting a hand on her shoulder, then looked at Lilith. "Need a ride?" he asked.

Lilith shook her head negative. "Nope. I have my own. Hang on…" she off, and put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. A second later, there was an echoing neigh, and a ghostly skeletal horse appeared out of thin air. Its mane was made on blue flames, and it looked downright menacing.

Lilith went up to the horse and petted its muzzle lovingly. "Hey there, Persephone. How are you girl?" (A/N: okay, I may or may not have taken the idea to name the female horse Persephone from the House of Night series by L.J. Smith. Point is, I DO NOT OWN!)

Persephone neighed happily in reply.

Jack stepped up-not cautious in the slightest-and petted the mare's muzzle as well. "Persephone, Queen of Hades, huh? It fits her."

Cherie looked at the mare smiling softly. "She's beautiful, in a dark, twisted sort of way."

Lilith climbed on the mare. "Thanks. Now let's go," she smirked mischievously. "Race you there!"

Persephone neighed and shot off into the air with Lilith on her back.

"Hey! That's not fair!" Jack and Cherie shouted, and the North Wind flew them after her.

* * *

When the three spirits landed in Pitch's lair, Jack and Cherie were grumbling irritably and Lilith was smirking lightly at her win. They entered the vage room and Lilith's eyes zeroed in on the dark globe.

She walked over to it and touché one of the small flickering lights. "What is this?" she asked quietly.

"That would be all the children whose hearts are still untainted by my fear," Pitch said, popping up quite literally out of nowhere.

"Shit!" Jack cried, jumping about five feet in the air. "Dammit, Pitch, don't do that!"

Pitch looked at Jack. "I'm the Nightmare King, Jack. It's my job," he deadpanned.

"Leave your job to the children not us," Cherie grumbled.

Lilith, who wasn't startled in the slightest, turned to Pitch. "It's nice to meet you sir," she said politely. "Since my holiday revolves closely around fear, I've heard a lot about you from the ghosts I've met; they always sing your praises."

Pitch chuckled. "It's interesting to know that I'm known even in the realm of specters. And please, don't call me sir, just call me Pitch."

Lilith nodded. "Alright, Pitch."

Jack stepped up. "So, what's out next move, Pitch?"

Cherie stepped up as well. "Yeah, are we going to look for-"

She was cut off, however, when Lilith shushed her. The Halloween spirit scanned the room for a bit, before she whipped her are in a random direction, and a needle shot out of her sleeve, and disappeared into the shadows. Not even a millisecond later, a squealing chirp was heard.

Jack, Lilith, and Cherie shot off immediately towards the direction that the sound came from, with Pitch trailing behind in the shadows.

They all stopped in front of a wall, and saw a lone tooth fairy pinned against the wall, a needle through her top feather, struggling futilely.

"Well, what do we have here?" Lilith asked curiously, picking up the fairy by her wings and holding her up.

Cherie looked at the fairy in interest. "It's one of Toothiana's fairies. Did one of them escape without us noticing?"

Jack observed for a minute, silently. "No…none of them escaped. Look at her top feather; it's different from the others."

The two girls looked at the fairy more closely. It was true; while the other fairies had a green top feather, this one had a yellow one like Tooth's.

"You're right, Jack," Lilith said. "But what does it mean?"

"It means," Jack said, smirking evilly. "that we've found ourselves a little spy."

_**A/N: If you guys haven't figured it out yet; yes, it's Baby Tooth. So...Oh, no! They got Baby Tooth! What will they do to the poor thing?!**_

_**Jack: Well, you did make me evil so they can only assume it's something bad, obviously.**_

_**Me: Don't get smart with me Frost, i DO decide who lives and who dies here.**_

_**Jack: ...**_

_**Me: That's what I thought.**_

_**Lilith: *sigh* Please review!**_

_**Me: They give me inner strength!**_


	4. Chapter 4: Messing with Easter

_**A/N: First off, I'm SO sorry for the late update! School and graduation prep has been absolutely ridiculous, plus my mom took my laptop, so yeah.**_

_**Second: I apologize in advance to all you guys who are fans of Baby Tooth or Sophie. I personally love them, but what happened had to be done. *cries***_

_**Third: Before you guys flay me alive, just remember: Jack is evil here, so he's going to do some pretty bad things. This is one of them.**_

_**Thank you so much to all who reviewed, and special thanks to TheMysticWolf36 and TheVampireRenchan for the motivation boosts!**_

_**Now on with the story!**_

* * *

Jack leaned in close to the fairy and laughed darkly at her terrified expression.

"Well, well. If it isn't little Baby Tooth," he jeered. "What a pleasant surprise. I was wondering where you went; I didn't see you when we left Hong Kong. So this is what you've been doing all this time."

"Spying, though?" Cherie asked, and giggled. _"Ce une mauvaise fée peu." _(what a bad little fairy)

Jack straightened and without turning he asked. "So, what do we do with her, Pitch?" he addressed him, who had suddenly appeared behind the three teens.

Pitch deliberated for a moment, and then said, "Interrogate her. More than likely she's been here for a while, which means she might have been relaying information to the Guardians. Find out what she knows, by any means necessary."

Jack and Cherie smiled evilly and Lilith smirked.

"Whatever you say, Pitch," Jack laughed and the three teens plus Baby Tooth vanished in a swirl of wind.

Pitch sighed, and then chuckled. "Suddenly, I feel almost sorry for the poor thing," he said, then disappeared into the shadows once more.

* * *

A few minutes later, the three were in a dark room dimly lit with semi-bright jack-o-lanterns in all four corners, and there was a bed with thin black curtains surrounding it. It was quite clear that it was Lilith's room; even without going in, it was obvious by the pumpkin on the door outside.

The said Halloween spirit was still holding Baby Tooth by her wings, and the fairy was still struggling.

Jack bent towards the sprite again and smiled. "Okay, Baby Tooth, here's what's going to happen. We're going to ask you a few yes or no questions. Since you can't talk, I want you to either nod or shake your head in response. Understand?"

Baby Tooth was silent and still, glaring at Jack with defiant eyes.

Jack's smile vanished and his eyes narrowed. He looked at Lilith pointedly, who nodded. She lifted her other hand and started twisting Baby Tooth's wing; the fairy shrieked in pain in reply.

"Understand?" Jack asked more forcefully.

Baby Tooth nodded frantically, and Lilith stopped twisting.

Jack's smile returned; it was so friendly one wouldn't be able to believe that he was orchestrating an interrogation. "There, that wasn't so hard, right? Answer our questions truthfully and there won't be any pain through this. Now…Cherie?"

Cherie stepped up to Baby Tooth and smiled as well. "Alright, _petite fée, _(little fairy) please answer me this: have you been here since the events in Hong Kong?"

The fairy nodded.

Jack and Cherie looked at each other in mild surprise while Lilith (as usual) looked impassive. Jack turned back to the tooth collector and asked, "Have you been relaying info to the Guardians since then?"

Again, Baby Tooth nodded.

Cherie sighed. "That explains how North knew where to find Lilith. And how he got there so fast."

Jack hummed, frowning, then suddenly smiled. He looked back at the still terrified fairy and asked, "Have you heard anything else while you were here? Maybe some plans or strategies that Pitch hasn't told us about yet?"

This time the tooth collector hesitated before shaking her head negative. Jack's smile turned wicked.

People may not see him, but he _always_ observed people. He had 300 years to study human nature; he knew that she was lying.

Jack tsked, waving a finger disapprovingly in Baby Tooth's face. "Tsk, tsk, Baby Tooth. Honesty is a virtue, and I told you to answer our questions as such. You lied, now we have to punish you. Lilith, Cherie."

"Right," the two girls said, and Cherie moved with a perky bounce to her step as she took the fairy from her best friend, holding a wing in each hand.

Lilith moved to stand in front of the fairy, and lifted her arm, revealing her hand with black painted nails holding up two sharp and deadly looking needles.

Baby Tooth's tiny eyes widened in horror and she started struggling against Cherie's hold, but to no avail.

Lilith's expression remained impassive. "Put her against the wall," she told Cherie, who complied.

Once Baby Tooth was against the wall, Lilith took five steps back, and Jack was watching her with interest.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously.

"Target practice," was all she said, and threw the needles at Baby Tooth, which hit her wings with deadly accuracy, pinning her to the wall.

Baby Tooth screamed (A/N: chirp-screamed? *shrugs*) in agony and minuscule tears fell on her face from the pain. Cherie released the fairy; there was no further need for her to hold her up.

Jack paid this no heed, however, and continued ruthlessly, "Now, let's try that again. Have you heard anything else while you were here?"

Baby Tooth was still crying in pain with her eyes shut tightly, and nodded.

Jack smiled coldly (A/N: no pun intended; honestly I've been trying to avoid it) and said, "Well, it's a good thing we caught you when we did. Since you can't just tell us what you heard, I'll ask you one thing specifically: did you ever hear Pitch mention the name Julius Tempus?"

Baby Tooth was either panicking or in too much pain, because all she did was cry in response to Jack's question.

Jack's eye's narrowed in irritation, and his voice held no amusement for the first time today. "Y'know, Baby Tooth, I'm not really know for my patience . I suggest you answer my question, 'cause if you don't…"

Jack lifted his hand and placed his thumb under Baby Tooth's neck and added a bit of pressure. Since she was a tiny little thing, this action served to cut off her air circulation.

"Did. He. Say. That. Name?" Jack asked softly, adding a little more pressure on the fairy's neck with each word.

Baby Tooth nodded frantically, choking from the lack of oxygen.

"Do the Guardians know he's around?" the winter spirit asked, not releasing the fairy.

Baby Tooth shook her head weakly; she was about to pass out.

Jack smiled cheerily then, his previous violent mood vanishing and removed his thumb from the tooth collector's throat, and Baby Tooth gasped to get her breath back. (A/N: I think I made Jack bipolar. Oh well! XD)

Jack stepped back and looked at his companions. "Well, I can't think of anything else to ask. You guys got anything?"

"_Non_."

"Nope."

Jack smiled sadistically. "Well, then, we might as well finish this up. Sorry, Baby Tooth, but we can't let you live, not with all you know."

Baby Tooth's eyes widened in horror and she struggled violently against Lilith's needles, which did nothing but injure her further, and blood started to flow from the veins in her wings and down the wall.

Jack and Cherie laughed at the fairy's attempts at escape, while Lilith just smirked.

* * *

Back in the cage room, Pitch was sitting on his black throne, reading a book, when suddenly a piercing chirp-like scream sounded throughout the halls, followed by three sadistic laughs.

Pitch was, typically, not startled in the slightest, and looked up from his book for a second, then went back to reading.

* * *

Back at Santoff Clausen (A/N: recently found out that this is what North's place is called), the Guardians were still in slight shock after what happened in Hong Kong; North's news of rejection from Salem didn't make anything better. Bunnymund was seething after the humiliation he faced, North was depressed for several reasons, Sandy was spreading dreams to children from a window, and Tooth was anxiously awaiting information from Baby Tooth.

It was relatively quiet, until one of the windows by North's globe burst open, bringing in a freezing wind that was without a doubt the North Wind.

The Guardians jumped up and readied themselves for battle, expecting it to be Jack, but instead a small box came floating down and landed gently in front of Tooth.

They looked at each other in confusion, and Tooth flew down and examined the box more closely.

It was a present. A legitimate, gift wrapped present with a little blue bow on top. On it was a small note that read:

_Re-gifting your gift with something to _**_die_**_ for._

It was signed by pictures of a snowflake, a heart, and a pumpkin.

Tooth opened the box slowly and cautiously, not knowing what to expect. When the box was opened, however, she froze. Time seemed to have stopped for her. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. She didn't want to.

Bunnymund came up behind her. "Tooth? What's wrong?" North and Sandy walked up as well, and the three males' eyes widened at what they saw.

"Shit!" Bunnymund exclaimed.

North cursed in disgust in Russian.

Sandy covered his mouth in a silent gasp of horror.

Tooth finally unfroze and let out a blood-curdling scream.

Inside the box, was a mangled and bloody Baby Tooth, dead.

* * *

At Pitch's lair, the three teenage spirits were looking at the King of Nightmares expectantly. (Well, Jack and Cherie were, Lilith just looked poker-faced) In turn, Pitch had his eyes closed, seeming to be concentrating on something.

Suddenly, Pitch's golden eyes snapped open, and he looked up. The three teens followed his gaze and saw a Nightmare zoom down and landed beside Pitch.

Jack, Cherie, and Lilith waited silently while Pitch conversed with the Nightmare. After a minute, the Nightmare dissolved into black sand, and Pitch was smiling slightly.

Jack, not being one for patience, had had enough of the suspense.

"Well?" he blurted.

Pitch chuckled. "She's received your little 'gift', if that's what you're asking."

Lilith 'hmphed' at Jack's impatience. This led to a glaring contest between the two, until Cherie walked between them to break it up.

"Hey, hey, let's not fight," she said, and then turned to Pitch. "So, how did she react?"

"Apparently, her screams could be heard even by the children in Burgess."

Jack laughed mirthfully. "Wow, from the North Pole to all the way in Burgess? They should send more spies; seems like we have our work cut out for us."

Pitch nodded. "Indeed, your interrogation was…thorough. Even I didn't expect such cruelty from you three."

The three teens shrugged. Then Jack flew up to Pitch and leaned on his throne.

"I know you didn't send that Nightmare out sorely only for our entertainment, Pitch. What're you planning this time?" he asked, one eyebrow raised. Lilith and Cherie, who were sitting on the stairs, turned to listen in.

Pitch said nothing, and got up from his throne and walked over to the globe, with the three teenage spirits trailed behind him, with Cherie and Lilith flanking him.

Pitch was silent for a moment before speaking. "I've sent that Nightmare to spy on the Guardians to see what their next move will be. We've been idle long enough, it's time to make our move, lest they forget about us." He turned to face the teens then, and smiled. "And given recent events, I was under the impression that you three have gotten rather bored."

Cherie giggled, Lilith smirked, and Jack laughed embarrassedly and scratched the back of his head, but then grew serious.

"As much as I'd love to cause trouble for the Guardians, but without all of us here, wouldn't be the same as what happened in Hong Kong?"

Pitch grew serious and his golden eyes grew thoughtful. "By 'all of us', I'm assuming that you're referring to the spirit of New Year's Eve, Julius Tempus?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. Baby Tooth implied that you said that name before; I'm guessing you were going to send us out to find him before we found her snooping around."

Pitch hummed. "I was, but given recent events, I think it's time for a different approach."

"A 'different approach'?" The three asked together.

The King of Fear nodded. "Precisely. There are now things we need to take care of; rather than send the whole of us to take care of one and then the other, it would be more beneficial if we split up in terms."

"Like…?" Lilith pressed.

Pitch sighed and pointed to Jack saying. "Jack and I will go and deal with the Guardians, while you two," he pointed to Lilith and Cherie, "go and find Julius Tempus."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Boogeyman," Jack said, flying up to sit on the globe. "Why aren't they going with them? Three's better than two, after all."

"Indeed, but the more evenly we're divided, the less work I have to do."

"So in the end, it's all about you," Lilith and Cherie deadpanned.

Lilith shrugged, though. "Oh, well. I don't really care."

Cherie shrugged as well. "Yeah, just do whatever you want, Pitch."

Jack said nothing and crossed his legs on the globe.

Pitch chuckled. "Naturally. But anyway, head off, girls. He's somewhere in London; shouldn't be too hard to find."

Cherie pouted and stomped up to Pitch, who looked back at her amused. "_Pas du tout, _(no way) Pitch! Last time you gave us vague directions, we got lost in Salem for hours! Tell us where he is specifically!"

Pitch rolled his eyes. "I don't know where he is in London exactly, but it seems that his favorite place to stay is atop the Big Ben clock tower."

Cherie nodded in satisfaction, and stepped down. "There. That wasn't so hard, was it? C'mon Lily, _allon-y_!" (let's go!)

Lilith sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Hold on." She put two fingers to her mouth and whistled, and Persephone shimmered into existence, in all her terrifying skeletal, blue flaming glory.

Pitch hummed in approval, and softly stroked her muzzle. "A beautiful creature, Lilith. Even more frightening than my Nightmare."

Lilith and Cherie hopped on the mare and Lilith smirked. "Thanks. Well, we're off."

"Don't wait up!" Cherie said, playfully blowing the two males a kiss. With that, Persephone rode the two girls out of the lair from the tunnel.

As soon as they were gone, Jack hopped down to stand next to Pitch, who had turned back to the globe, and propped his staff on his shoulder.

The winter spirit looked in the direction the two female spirits departed and, without looking at Pitch, said, "You're a damn horrible liar, you know that?"

"Oh?" Pitch said in mock innocence. "Whatever do you mean, Jack?"

Jack sighed and looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "I'm not an idiot, Pitch. I can tell you're planning something again." He turned to Pitch and smirked. "Care to enlighten me?"

Pitch chuckled and walked over to the cages and smirked up at the tooth fairies he had taken prisoner. They chirped nervously, frightened by the look in his eyes.

Jack flew beside him and floated cross-legged. He looked up at the cages and smirked as well, and the fairies became even more frightened; they never believed that Jack would kill their beloved sister.

Pitch never took his eyes off the cages and said to Jack, "You are aware that Easter is tomorrow, correct? It wouldn't really be good for us if the Guardians were able to restore belief in all the children, would it? My Nightmares can only do so much."

"You still make it sound like you're doing all the work."

Pitch scowled. "Quiet, Frost. Anyway, I was speaking the truth when I said that we were too idle. So how do you feel about causing some chaos?"

Jack seemed to contemplate this for a moment before saying, "As much as I love chaos, Pitch, just busting in there and causing a scene? Not very artistic. If we're going to do this," he smirked. "it has to be with some style."

Pitch turned to him then, curious. "Oh? And what do you suggest?"

Jack's smirk turned evil and he sauntered over dramatically to Pitch and slung his arm over his shoulder. "Lend me thine ear, Boogeyman, for I am going to enlighten you."

* * *

While Jack and Pitch were scheming, the two female spirits had spirits had reached London. Lilith hopped off Persephone and then helped Cherie off; she wasn't used to equestrian travel and she was quite unsteady.

"Ugh," Cherie groaned, leaning on Persephone to get her bearings back.

"You okay?" Lilith said with her usual indifferent expression, but if one knew her as well as Cherie did, you could see the concern in her visible bright red eye.

The Valentine's spirit nodded and stood up straight. "_Oui_, I'm fine, Lily. It just takes some getting used to."

Lilith nodded and looked around. They were currently standing in a busy street; people were coming and going in a hurry, even though it was nighttime. There were businessmen and women yelling in their phones, construction in the streets, and drivers honking their horns furiously.

Suddenly, Lilith heard Cherie shriek in shock and pain. The Halloween spirit whirled around needles at the ready in her invisible hands, expecting it to be an ambush, but what she saw was worse.

Cherie was curled up in a fetal position on the sidewalk, with people walking right through her.

Something that the Guardians either didn't know or ignored (the four teens always bet on the latter when they were together) was that if someone walks through a spirit that nobody believes in, than spirit feels an unimaginable pain in their very essence. Male spirits like Jack and Pitch, who have a lot of power, could handle the pain well enough. However, for some reason, female spirits felt it a lot worse. It was one of the reasons Lilith avoided people.

Lilith ran over to Cherie and pulled her up without difficulty, then swiftly jumped on Persephone with her.

Lilith looked up at a tall building. "Persephone! To the roof!" she commanded hastily.

Persephone neighed and carried them both on top of the building quickly and without delay.

Once they were atop the building, Lilith jumped of the mare and knelt on the ground with Cherie still in her arms. She looked down at her face and saw that tears were running down her face, but wasn't making a sound.

"Cherie?" Lilith called, concern lacing her voice. "Are you okay?"

Cherie nodded, the curls at the ends of her ponytails bouncing slightly. "_Oui_, just give me a minute. It's…been a while, that's all."

Lilith nodded and waited for the pinkette to collect herself. After a minute, Cherie pulled away from Lilith, wiped the tears from her eyes, and grinned at her.

Lilith smiled slightly. "Alright?"

Cherie nodded. "Okay!"

Just then, a loud bell chimed. The two females looked to their lefts to see the Big Ben, sounding 9 o' clock.

They had found their target.

* * *

At Bunnymund's warren, the Guardians were hastily preparing for Easter, with the unexpected company of one other. Apparently, when they went on their tooth collection, a small girl by the name of Sophie Bennett had somehow gotten a hold of one of North's snow globes, and accidentally teleported her way to the warren when they were collecting the tooth of here older brother, Jamie.

At first, Bunny was in a panic; despite being a Guardian of Childhood, he had no idea how to deal with kids. North was just as bad, and though Tooth might have been able to take care of the girl, she was still depressed over the brutal death of one of her beloved fairies.

So that just left Sandy, who was currently entertaining her with his dreamsand. Right now she was laughing gleefully riding a Dream unicorn screaming, "Pretty pony! Pretty pony!"

Eventually, all the preparations were complete, and Bunny finally started to relax a little bit. He plopped himself down on a patch of lush green grass as he watched all of the decorated eggs make their way to the tunnels.

All the other Guardians made their way over to him, and Sandy was carrying Sophie, who had tired herself out after her long, exciting day.

Bunnymund looked at the child and smiled a little. "Poor little ankle-biter, must've tuckered herself out."

Tooth smiled a little too. "She's adorable." Then she stood up and started to fly and reached to take Sophie from Sandy's arms. "I think it's time to get her home."

Suddenly, a cold wind swept through the warren, and a pair of sinister laughs echoed throughout the area.

"Oh? Leaving the party so soon?" a smooth English voice inquired mockingly.

"You didn't even say goodbye," a second voice added, not English, but equally as mocking.

"Pitch! Jack!" North shouted, looking around frantically for the two.

"Show yourselves!" Bunnymund ordered, jumping up and reaching for his boomerangs.

The sinister laughter sounded again, this time more towards the seven tunnels leading out towards the continents.

The Guardians looked on in horror as walls of ice appeared two by two on both ends of the lines of tunnels, sealing the exits. The last was sealed by a mixture of ice and nightmare sand, similar to the formation back in Antarctica.

"No!" Bunnymund yelled, and raced towards the tunnels while his fellow Guardians trailed closely behind.

When they reached, the little eggs made way for Bunny and he immediately started pounding on the ice and throwing egg bombs in an attempt to break the walls. North and Sandy were doing the same with their weapons on the walls next to him, and Tooth was flying a little ways behind them, clutching the still sleeping Sophie in her arms. Jack and Pitch watched from their unknown locations amusedly.

After a few seconds on their futile attempts, Jack said, "It's pointless, you know. The ice that comes from me is stronger than any metal in the world. It'll take more than a few whacks to break it."

Bunnymund was absolutely livid. He kicked the ice wall angrily and shouted in the air, "Frostbite! Pitch! Show yourselves, you goddamn cowards!"

For a minute, there was silence. Then, there was the whoosh of the wind behind them, and they turned to see Jack and Pitch appear in a swirl of ice crystals and black sand.

The Nightmare King and his second-in-command both smirked evilly and took twin theatric bows.

"Well met, Guardians," Pitch said sarcastically. "It's funny how we keep running into each other like this."

Bunnymund growled and readied himself for a fight. North and Sandy did the same.

Jack held his hands up in a mock surrendering gesture. "Hey now, let's not fight. We could just be here to talk, you know."

"Like hell!" Bunny shouted, and charged towards Jack; if he was taken out, the ice would probably vanish.

Too bad for him, neither rogue spirit would allow that. All that Bunny hit was a wall of nightmare sand, courtesy of Pitch, and when it disappeared, the winter spirit was gone.

"Where did he go?!" North asked incredulously.

"Now that was just plain rude." The three male Guardians whirled away from a smug-looking Pitch to see Jack beside Tooth, leaning on his staff and looking rather put out. Tooth however, had a startled look on her face which soon turned to a glare as she gripped Sophie protectively.

_'What the hell?'_ Bunnymund thought in shock. _'When did frostbite get this fast?!'**_ He was about to race over to Tooth, as were Sandy and North, but they were stopped by five of Pitch's Nightmares.

Jack noticed the slight movement of Tooth's arms and looked down. When he saw who it was, he smiled and floated around so he was in front of Tooth.

"Well, if it isn't little Sophie. What's this little charmer doing all the way out here?" Jack asked, the softness in his voice confusing everyone but Pitch; he knew that Jack still had a slight soft spot for small children.

"It was accident," North said carefully, trying to discern whether Jack was hostile or not. "She got a hold of snow globe."

Jack chuckled and shook his head. "You should really take care of your stuff better, North," he said, and brushed some strands of hair from Sophie's face. The little girl smile in her sleep at the cool touch.

Tooth smiled a little as well. Maybe the old Jack was still in there somewhere.

Jack smiled at Sophie, then snapped his fingers like he remembered something. "Oh, yeah! Hey, Tooth?"

She looked up in inquiry, slightly nervous. "Y-yes?"

Jack smiled brightly at her and leaned into her ear and whispered, _"How did you like my little present?"_

* * *

Lilith and Cherie were racing on Persephone's back towards the Big Ben clock tower. If Pitch's info was correct, Julius would be there.

"Hey, Lily?"

"Hn?"

"Do you think that Julius will come with us? Or do you think he'll say no?" Cherie asked with mild worry.

Lilith was silent for a long minute, and Cherie thought that she wouldn't answer. However, Lilith sighed and said, "Believe it or not, I kind of asked Jack the same thing yesterday."

Cherie blinked. "Really?"

Lilith nodded, the wind blowing her long ponytail around. "Yeah."

*Flashback*

_ After the three teens sent their 'gift' to Santoff Clausen, Cherie had decided to retire to her room for the night. Lilith was about to do the same, walking to her room, when she noticed Jack and Pitch talking by the globe. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but they seemed to be discussing something._

_ Pitch said something and Jack nodded and the Nightmare King disappeared. Jack yawned and stretched and prepared to go to his room to sleep, when he caught sight of Lilith. He waved and floated to her._

"_Hey, Lilith. What's up?" he asked conversationally._

_ Instead of greeting back, Lilith looked at the empty room, then back at Jack and asked, "What were you two talking about?"_

_ Jack sighed and said, "Just a report of what happened today, and what our next move is."_

_ "And what_ is_ our next move?"_

_ Jack shrugged. "Dunno. He said he'd tell us all tomorrow. I'm guessing that it has to do with Julius."_

_ "To find him?" Lilith asked_

_ "And bring him here," the winter spirit said, and grinned._

_ Lilith put a hand on her hip. "You seem rather confident that he'll come here."_

_ "Heh. Yeah, well…" he trailed off, and started to walk away._

_ "Why?"_

_ Jack stopped and didn't turn around. "Hm?"_

_ "Why are you so confident that everything will go according to your plan? That all of this would just work out the way you and Pitch want it to?"_

_ Lilith knew Jack well, better than the others, in fact. She knew that beneath the fun loving exterior was someone even more dangerous and conniving than Pitch himself, when he wanted to be. He was Jack Frost, after all; Chaos personified. He might be a fool, but he wasn't an idiot._

_ "Oh wow, Lilith. Thanks for having such amazing faith in me. You're awesome," Jack said sarcastically._

_ Lilith, indifferent as she was, could tell when her words hurt other. Now was one of those times._

_ "Jack…I-" she started, but was cut off by Jack's laughing voice._

_ "Look, don't worry about it; I know you didn't mean it," he said, still not turning around. "But to answer your question, there was no plan to begin with, not where you guys were involved. No meeting, no conniving, no nothing. But let me ask you this…"_

_ He turned to face her then, his shimmering eyes boring into her blazing red one._

_ "Am I wrong when I say that you want to be believed-or feared in-as_ _much as I do?"_

_ Lilith's eyes narrowed in confusion. "No…you're right, but-"_

_ Jack cut her off again and looked at the ceiling thoughtfully. "'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.'" He looked back at Lilith and smiled widely. "It's a saying I heard somewhere. By doing what I'm doing, I'm already considered the bad guy here, but if I left you guys in the dark, without any info…" he turned and started to walk away, his staff positioned on his shoulder. "That would make me worse than trash."_

_And with that, he disappeared down his tunnel, leaving Lilith alone with her thoughts_

*Flashback end*

"Wow~" Cherie said. "He said all that?"

Lilith nodded. "Jack might be an arrogant idiot sometimes, but he does know what he's doing. 300 years of constant pranking have given him the know-how, but also 300 years of bitterness."

"For the rest of us as well," Cherie said.

Lilith said nothing.

After a moment she looked up and saw that they were nearing their destination.

"Land inside the face, Persephone," she told the mare, and the horse flew then to the face, just under the Roman numeral six, and promptly disappeared

Lilith jumped off and went to help Cherie, but she was already off and straightening her skirt, only slightly unsteady.

The raven-haired girl raised an eyebrow but said nothing. She looked around the face (which was surprisingly spacious) and looked inside one of the spaces where the clock gears were.

She stepped back and said, more to herself than Cherie, "Now, if I were a 300 year old spirit of New Year's, where would I be?"

"You'd be up here," a smooth English voice answered. It was like Pitch's, but way younger.

Both Lilith and Cherie looked up in surprise and their eyes widened.

"You!" Lilith gasped. "You are…!"

* * *

(Scene change. I know I'm horrible.)

Tooth's eyes widened in pure horror, and she nearly dropped Sophie in shock.

"J-Jack…w-what, I," she stuttered.

Jack ignored her stammering and kept speaking to her, too low for the other Guardians or Pitch to hear, though the Nightmare King had a good idea what he was saying. "Bad idea, you know, sending a tiny thing like Baby Tooth to do such dirty and deadly work. The poor fairy was scared half to death." He laughed a bit at his bad joke. "You practically sent her on a suicide mission."

North saw that Tooth looked greatly trouble and made a move to go to her, but was stopped by a Nightmare, and Pitch grinned wickedly.

"Now, now. It's rude to interrupt other people's conversations," he said.

North looked over to his companions to see them in a similar position. They could fight the Nightmares off easily, but they were afraid that Jack would do something to Tooth and Sophie if they did.

Jack was still mentally attacking the female Guardian. "Yeah, she looked like she really didn't want to be there, y'know? I bet you forced her, right?" he didn't wait for a response. "But, hey, no worries. I'll tell you a secret…"

He leaned even closer to her and whispered, _"It sure was fun to put her out of her misery."_

That did it for Tooth. She couldn't handle it anymore; the despair of losing her most beloved fairy combined with Jack's word were too much. She was about to break down, she heard Bunnymund yelling.

"Tooth! Get a hold of yourself! Don't you get it; he's _trying_ to break you!" he said, attempting to talk some sense into her.

Tooth sniffled and seemed to shake off the mental breakdown she was close to having. Jack smirked at Bunny.

"You've got it wrong, Cottontail. The last thing I wanna do is break her. In fact, one of the ladies actually wants to fight her; the last thing I want is a pissed off girl on my ass." He ran his hand through his white hair. "I was only stating my opinion; it was fun, though it did take forever to wrap that gift box. Right, Pitch?"

Pitch grinned. "Indeed, it was rather tedious getting the corpse into the box."

Jack looked at Pitch oddly. "Yeah, tedious for _me_! You were the one holding the box!"

Bunnymund took advantage of Jack's switch in attention and suddenly threw a few egg-bombs at the spirit. Tooth flew out of the way with Sophie just in time to avoid the blast.

The colorful bombs went off and Jack let out a surprised shout, which made Bunny believe that he'd got him. However, when the smoke cleared, there were three small craters on the ground, but the winter spirit was nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit!" Bunnymund cursed. "The damn brat just can't sit still!"

"Now why would I do that?" The Guardians jumped when they saw Jack sitting on a Nightmare next to Pitch, who had somehow move as well; they were both behind the Guardians now.

Jack looked at Bunny and smirked condescendingly with his staff in his lap (which irritated the mother crap out of the Guardian of Hope) and addressed Pitch. "Hey, Pitch."

Pitch looked at Jack from the corner of his eye. "What is it, Jack?"

The teen spirit stood up and flipped off the Nightmare. He landed by Pitch and whispered something in his ear.

Pitch raised an amused eyebrow. "Go ahead."

Jack smirked wickedly and disappeared into the wind.

"He vanished again?!" North exclaimed. Bunnymund was glaring at Pitch looking for an opening, but Sandy didn't waste any time. He lashed out his whips at Pitch, who defended himself quite easily by blocking with his nightmare sand.

"Step one!" Jack's voice said from nowhere, and stopped the impending fight immediately. The male Guardians braced themselves for whatever the trickster had planned; unpredictability was Jack's specialty.

What happened next was unexpected. Jack appeared in front of Tooth again, smiled cheekily, and took Sophie from her hands, not waking the girl in the slightest.

"I'll be taking this kid off your hands," he said, and disappeared when Tooth took a swing at him.

"No! Sophie!" she yelled.

She heard two dark laughs in response; Pitch had used his powers over the shadows to his advantage, and had escaped Bunny and Sandy's focus.

"And now for step two." said Jack, and the Guardians spun to see both Jack and Pitch standing on top of the tunnels, grinning evilly, Sophie still in Jack's arms. He looked at Pitch. "Now, Pitch."

Pitch reached towards the sleeping girl, ignoring Tooth's shout of "Don't touch her!", and placed his hand over her forehead. Black sand swirled above her, and her peaceful face quickly changed to one of extreme discomfort, and she started whimpering.

"Have a nice nightmare," Pitch said.

"Bastards!" Bunnymund yelled furiously. "What did you do to her?!"

Before either could answer, a sudden flash of orange light appeared next to Jack before taking the shape of a small jack-o'-lantern. Jack handed the squirming child to Pitch before taking the pumpkin in his hand. Suddenly the mouth opened and Lilith's voice came out.

_Hope you're enjoying your little outing._

_ No need to hurry back,_

_ Time is on our side._

The pumpkin vanished in another flash, and Jack was grinning ear to ear. He looked at Pitch, who was looking at the winter spirit questioningly.

Jack's grin got wider. "It seems that the ladies have finished their job."

Pitch smirked evilly, then turned to one of his Nightmares and put Sophie on it,, who galloped down and laid her down in front of the Guardians, then disappeared.

Sandy immediately went to dispel the nightmare Sophie was having, but to his surprise and horror, he couldn't, and Sophie started squirming even more.

"Sandy? What's going on?" North asked. Sandy didn't respond and glared at Pitch hatefully. He knew _exactly_ what was wrong with Sophie.

Pitch returned Sandy's glare with a smirk. "I do hope that she's enjoying the nightmare I gave her, Sandman. Especially since she won't be waking up from it. Ever. Again." The Guardians gasped in horror, except for Sandy, 'cause you know…he can't talk.

Jack snickered. "Hey, now, don't look so upset. Here, let me make it up to you." He snapped his fingers and six of the seven ice walls disappeared, and the eggs immediately went through them to their designated continent. However, the middle tunnel, leading to Europe, still had the ice wall infused with black sand intact.

"I'd be pointless of we just came here for no reason, right? So I guess all the kids in Europe won't be having Easter this year," Jack said grinning, and then laughed at Bunnymund's shocked expression. "Don't worry, Bunny; that won't be enough to take away your power completely. We want you at your best when we kick you off your pedestals."

Nightmare sand and ice crystals began to swirl around the two. The Nightmares around had long since vanished.

"Till next time, dear Guardians," Pitch said.

"And happy Easter," Jack chirped, and then the duo vanished.

* * *

**: For the record, Jack was always this fast; he didn't all of a sudden get faster. The reason he didn't show off in Hong Kong was because he knew that Pitch didn't want him to fight seriously. He's still weaker than the Guardians though, but not by much.

**_A/N: Done! So the_****_ next chapter might be late again, so I apologize in advance. Jack was a snarky little shit though. _**

**_Jack: Hey, it would be me if it was otherwise._**

**_Me: True._**

**_Lilith, Cherie, and Jack: Please review!_**


End file.
